The sound of the crickets, willow was sure, still couldn’t mask the clanging of her beating heart against her rib cage. The warmth radiating from his shoulder that lightly brushed against hers was more intense than anything shed ever felt before. She kept her eyes glued to the sky. She would dread getting caught staring into his hypnotizing eyes.

 It hadn’t occurred to her that his hot breath had been sweeping past her ear until she felt its absence-a result, she was also sure, of this mind and body numbing moment. She quickly glanced to her right, careful not to move anything but her eyes, and realized why the breathing had stopped; instead of looking past her and admiring the stars stretching across the midnight sky, he was looking directly at her. He was admiring her.

 Her neck slowly moved with her eyes so she was now facing him, and that irresistible half grin spread across his face. He reached forward, and grabbed her hand.

Willow was experiencing a feeling she had never felt before. She often dreamt of the actual physical feeling of love, and longed for it with determination. However, despite this, she had never expected love to be so painful. Her stomach felt like it had split open, exposing a flock of fluttering butterflies that scrambled viciously in her abdomen, and she was sure a rib or two would be broken by the end of the night on account of her savage heart, which beat on them and tenderized them like cheap steak. Her head throbbed, along with the rest of her pulse points, and her lungs felt shriveled and in refusal to take in the oxygen.

The seconds of eye contact felt like hours, and suddenly, in one swift motion, he pushed her pain away, with his hands on the back of her neck, he pulled her in and toward his wanting lips. Wendy put up no fight, and when she actually realized that her chapped, dry lips were locked with his, she slowly closed her eyes and gently wrapped her arms behind his neck, reaching on her tip toes because of her high difference.